Color of Discord
by lafrancaisefromage
Summary: The Manhattan Clan, now indifferent and even against looking for other supernatural creatures in Manhattan, has been asked by Elisa to investigate some mysterious break-ins that could be related to a winged creature flying around Manhattan. And what they find will not only spark the interest of their second in command, but drag them into a twisted mystery. 3rd Genre: Drama/Romance
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Elisa Maza sighed as she looked over the report of crimes that had happened recently. The stack of case files was as thick as ever, and she knew that she would have to look through each and every one of them. And while she was sworn to protect the people of Manhattan, and she really did love doing her job, she sometimes wished it wasn't so… boring.

Before taking on a full session of torture, she decided to flip through all of the case files. Maybe there would be something interesting. At least it would give her something to look forward to. She sighed again as she flipped open the first manila folder. Tax evasion. _Boring._ Stolen bicycle. _Typical._ Mugging. _Well, it is Manhattan._ And, unfortunately for Elisa, this pattern of typicality continued through every file. It took most of Elisa's effort to not look up at the clock every ten seconds and keep herself focused on her work.

10 minutes later, Elisa had flipped through about half of the case files, none which really sparked that urge to solve crime inside of her. The function of grabbing a file, looking inside, briefly scanning the page, groaning, closing the file, throwing it to the side and grabbing the next one was almost built in to her consciousness. She began to repeat the function once more, as she reached for the next file, and flipped it open

"Winged Creature Sighted". An average detective's interest would've been sparked, but Elisa was no average detective. In fact, she was almost disappointed in the file. _They need to be more careful_ she thought to herself. _One day, the police force is going to catch them, and I can only do so much about it._ She knew that she should've been more concerned, but she simply couldn't stay mad at the gargoyles. They were her friends, and they had more important things to worry about than the police force. Still, it wouldn't hurt to warn them.

Elisa flipped past the first sheet of paper, with all the basic case information, and carefully examined the photo stored behind it. _Alright, so it can't be Lexington_ she thought to herself. _Too tall. And it can't be Brooklyn_ she told herself again. _It doesn't have a beak. And it obviously can't be Bronx. It's standing up._ She continued down her mental list of defining attributes of the gargoyles. Goliath was too muscular. Didn't have Broadway's loincloth. Wasn't wearing its hair like Demona. Didn't have Hudson's armor. _This is harder than I thought_. Normally, when she was identifying the gargoyles, it took all of 5 seconds, as each of them had something that made them identifiable.

Elisa looked back at the official report. The photo was taken at 1:03 in the morning, and the building was on 5th Avenue. All of the criteria added up. The person who submitted the photo was questioned and investigated by the police officers, and they seemed to check out. All of the criteria added up. _There has to be something I'm missing_. Elisa thought to herself. She took out the photo again, and switched into true detective mode.

The photo didn't show any faces or bodily features; it was just a silhouette. The figure was standing on the edge of the building, looking as though it had just landed on it. It was thin, almost human-like in appearance, but its wings were large and bat-like, and they stretched out behind the figure. Hair was unidentifiable, but it certainly wasn't like Demona's as Demona wore her hair up. It's tail… _It's tail!_ The tail was unlike any of those on the gargoyles. It was a lot thinner, and had a little triangle shape on the end. Like the kind that you would find on a demon. It did seem to be the same length, but it was extremely different from any of the tails that she had seen on the gargoyles.

She began to look even closer at the photo. There was an outline of a coat and sneakers. Elisa knew that none of the gargoyles wore clothes like that. _It could just be a human_ Elisa thought to herself. This was Manhattan after all, and in a large city, you're bound to encounter some strange people. While Elisa's head told her that this was probably a human, her gut told her otherwise. _It could be the Mutates_ Elisa considered. But again, she knew that none of them had a tail like this.

Elisa considered every possibility for a few more minutes, until she realized that she had gotten carried away, and should go back to simply reading the files, rather than attempting to solve any of them just yet. She took a red sticky note from her desk and stuck it inside the front cover of the file, to remind herself to come back to it later. She returned back to her original plan, and continued to peer through files. It was three or four files later that she encountered another file that grabbed her attention.

"Break in at Apartment". Besides the fact that this was the first interesting crime she had seen all day, but the address was reported to be the exact address that the photo of the unidentified figure was taken. Even more, the break in was discovered at 1:45, on the same day that the photo was taken, after the owner of the apartment came back from teaching a night class at a college.

The file reported that nothing was taken except for a roster of his students for a class on Statistics, although his computer was hacked, but the records only showed the criminal printing out lists of his contacts and his resume. The apartment itself had very clearly been searched, as everything had been opened or turned over. The photo showed documents being strewn over the floor, and silverware being scattered across a table. It was estimated that the criminal had gotten in by somehow getting on the balcony, and then busting the lock to get inside the apartment, as the lock was damaged and the balcony door was opened.

Elisa, by now, had developed her own theory as to what had happened. It must have been that winged figure. Either the figure itself had broken in by landing on the roof and then jumping or climbing down to the balcony, where it busted the lock, or the figure itself actually was human and had been a distraction. Of course, that didn't answer the question of who it was, why they did it, etc. but it gave Elisa a start.

Elisa, now not caring if she got off track, picked up the case file with the photo. The person taking the picture reported the creature disappearing behind the building, which he ran to follow, but the creature had disappeared. _Must have been a fast worker_ Elisa thought to herself. It was astounding that someone was able to get to the balcony they needed, break a lock, get inside and hide before this person had ran to the other side of the building. _Of course,_ Elisa thought to herself, _it could've known that it was spotted, and then hid somewhere else until it saw the person leaving._

Elisa threw this file to her side and began searching through the others. Now, she was almost certain that she was on the road to something. And sure enough, she was. She looked through the other files reporting break-ins, and they all carried a similar motif. All of the victims had been professors at the same college, all of them had their classroom rosters taken, and their computers hacked, their contacts and resume printed, their apartment thoroughly searched, and always broken in to from the outside.

Of course there were a few differences. Some of them had been broken in through windows, as they didn't have balconies. Some of them had their mail looked through, some had discarded mail envelopes taken, but overall they seemed very similar. Now, any normal detective would have noticed a link, marked it for later, and moved on, but Elisa was no normal detective. She knew that something was wrong, and she suspected it wasn't human.

*I do not own any of Gargoyles, but I do own my own characters. This is also my first story, so I am open to all criticism. If I get likes, I will update more often.*


	2. Chapter 2

*So, this chapter is going to be a lot shorter than the chapters that I usually write. This is because I just couldn't combine two chapters, and I felt like this one just had to have its own chapter. I promise the action will start in the next chapter, which will be a LOT longer. Thanks for the people who read this, and favorited and followed.*

Chapter 2

"I think that there's another… something… in Manhattan." Elisa proposed, facing all of the gargoyles. The clock tower fell silent.

"Why do you say that?" questioned Goliath. While he was always happy to assist Elisa, he was still curious as to why she was telling them. When they first lived in Manhattan, they would've been glad to find another being like them, but after all the experiences they'd had, Goliath wasn't as optimistic as he used to be.

"Well, I was looking through case files today, and I found this," Elisa pushed the photo forward on the table, "This photo was taken on 5th Avenue at 1:03 two days ago. Were any of you guys there?" There was a unanimous head shaking no. "That's what I thought. And it doesn't look like any of the creatures we've encountered before."

"Could be a new mutate." Brooklyn suggested.

"I considered that too, but look at the tail. The mutates are made out of the combined DNA of animals, and I don't know any animals who have tails like that."

"Elisa makes a good point, but, why are you telling us this?" Goliath asked.

"Yeah, I mean, I'm not really sure I want to be finding other gargoyles, or… whatever it could be." Lexington threw in.

"I agree with Lex," Broadway said, "It hasn't always been the best time for us." Brooklyn and Hudson nodded in agreement, and even Bronx seemed to be nodding.

"I understand that, but I believe that this one holds more significance. I've been able to connect them to several break-ins across Manhattan, all taking the same things. None of the other ones you've encountered have been criminals." Elisa pushed the photo a little closer to the gargoyles.

"I see" Goliath said. He still didn't want to search for this creature, but perhaps it was worth it if they could stop the break-ins. "Perhaps we should look in to this. Brooklyn, Lexington, and Broadway, would you scan the city tonight, and see if you find any... any creature like this." The trio nodded in reluctant agreement. Why should they care if some sort of creature is breaking in to random apartments? Even then, they needed to trust that Goliath knew what he was doing.

"Here, take this." Elisa handed the photo of the figure to Brooklyn. Brooklyn examined it closely. Its bat wings and somewhat humanoid body seemed to resemble the gargoyles, but the figure lacked claws, and, of course, there was its distinctly different tail. Even though Brooklyn was reluctant, he still carried the small hope that they would find someone like them, or at least close, that wouldn't end how the others have ended.

The trio stepped up to the edge of the clock tower and jumped off the edge, only for the wind current to lift them up, as they disappeared into the inky night.

*I do not own any of Gargoyles, but I do own my own characters. This is also my first story, so I am open to all criticism. If I get likes and follows, I will update more often.*


	3. Chapter 3

*Thank you to all of the people who have read my fanfiction, and the likes, follows, and reviews. Because it's summer, I'm free more often now, and people are giving this series support, I will be updating a lot more often. I might even release another chapter today. And, just in case anyone was curios, this takes place after the events of the episode 'Upgrade' (Season 2, Episode 18) and before the events of 'Avalon, Part 1' (Season 2, Episode 21).*

Chapter 3

Lexington, Brooklyn, and Broadway had been soaring through the skies for at least 2 hours, and to no avail. In all honesty, the trio expected this. They would have to be astronomically lucky to even see this creature, and even then, they weren't sure it even existed. All 3 of them, like Elisa, had considered the possibility of it being a human meant to distract the public while a break-in took place.

"Anyone up for calling it quits?" Lexington suggested. All 3 of them had wanted to say it, and Brooklyn and Broadway mentally thanked Lexington for gathering up enough courage to bring it up.

"Yeah, I don't think we're gonna find anything tonight," Brooklyn agreed, "What about you Broadway?"

"Yeah, I'd like to go back and eat something. I don't think I had enough breakfast." Broadway's stomach grumbled. The trio began to rotate back towards the direction of the clock tower, somewhat disappointed that they had failed to find anything, but at the same time glad that they hadn't found anything. Brooklyn still had Maggie lingering in the back of his mind. He didn't want to face it, but he missed her. A lot. And he will never forget what first happened when he met her.

Brooklyn got a little lost in his own thoughts on the way back. The only sense that he had of reality was the wind blowing on his face. His mind was drifting back in to thoughts of Maggie. It hurt to think of her. He had heard Elisa say that if you love something, you should let it go, and that's what he did. But he didn't go a day without thinking of her.

"Hey, look at that!" Lexington pointed in to the distance, and woke Brooklyn up from his trance. He squinted, but managed to make out the silhouette of a humanoid figure, with large bat-like wings on the balcony of an apartment.

"I think we found our man." Broadway said, this time with a little more confidence in his voice.

"Let's just… wait and see." Brooklyn said. As second in command, he needed to enforce authority, but at the same time, he knew they didn't want to investigate as much as he did. Unfortunately, for the trio, as they flew closer, this time hiding behind larger buildings, they noticed a tiny demon-like tail on the figure, just like the one in the photo. The figure was now beginning to pick the lock with an object that the trio couldn't make out, but suspected was a paperclip. The figure then proceeded to pull on the top of the lock, and it opened, allowing the figure to go inside.

Lexington and Broadway looked at their second in command, waiting for instruction on whether or not to investigate. Brooklyn knew that they should check it out, but it was a question of whether they would check it out. Brooklyn considered flying back to the clock tower, and telling Elisa and Goliath that they hadn't found anything. _No_. Brooklyn pushed the thought out of his mind. He couldn't lie to them. He had to do what was right. He was surprised he ever even thought of lying to them. Brooklyn just assumed that the air pollution of Manhattan was finally driving him crazy.

"Let's check it out." Brooklyn answered to Lexington and Broadway's expecting glances. The two nodded, and climbed up to the top of the building that they had grappled on to. Brooklyn released a nervous breath. _What's the worst that could happen?_ he thought to himself. _He's outnumbered, and even if he were to only fight one of us, he'd probably be severely outmatched. Besides, we might find another gargoyle… or something… that would actually be glad to see us… Yeah right._ Brooklyn stared at his rookery brothers, flanked at each side of him. They each nodded again, communicating that everyone was ready.

With one final nervous breath, the trio jumped off the edge of the building, and let the wind current carry them to the apartment, now looking like the apartment in some of the photos that they had seen. The light was on, lighting up a mess of flipped over chairs, open drawers, and clothes being thrown all over the place, one blue collared shirt even hanging off of the light fixture. The only thing that was unusual about this scene was that the figure was missing.

The trio landed on the balcony of the apartment. Lexington began to examine the lock, which had been cast on the floor, and suffered some scratches.

"Hmm. This lock appears to be picked, and then ripped open, pretty violently, by the way. There aren't any claw marks on it, only scratches from when it was thrown on the floor, but that doesn't mean anything." Lexington spoke with experience, as if he had been doing this ever since he hatched, when he gave his prognosis on the lock.

"Well, that doesn't answer the question of where he is." Brooklyn said, slightly agitated that they might have missed the figure after being so concerned with it.

"Relax, and just look. The apartment has multiple rooms, it's probably in one of them." Lexington assured Brooklyn.

"This is much nicer than Elisa's apartment." Broadway tossed in.

"Well, the owners were professors, and they do make a lot of money. I don't think this guy would have an apartment if he didn't have to stay in Manhattan."

"We should be quieter." Brooklyn said, almost cutting Lexington off, "They might hear us and try to escape."

"Again, if he does, the best he can do is run here, and then we'll catch him." Lexington assured once more.

"Guess you're right." Brooklyn didn't like having to be reassured. He was second in command, and he was supposed to be the one who was always certain of what he was doing, and who was supposed to lead and guide the others, not to be lead and guided by them.

The trio stepped inside the apartment, and became bathed in the artificial light coming from the light fixture. _Wow, thorough searcher._ Brooklyn thought to himself. _Couldn't have had better searcher done by a squad of police officers._ Lexington and Broadway began trying to search the apartment, but that job had been mostly done for them already. Brooklyn began to look in the other rooms, starting with the office. _God, this person must be deaf._

Brooklyn's eyes scanned the office, until they locked on to a silhouette. It blended in so well with the darkness of the room that Brooklyn almost missed it. Because the lights of the office were off, Brooklyn could only make out the outline of a crouched figure, with its hands rustling through papers in the drawers of the desk.

"Over here!" Brooklyn notified Lexington and Broadway, who were beginning to "search" the fridge, "We found him." Brooklyn flipped on the light switch of the office. The figure either didn't show any sign of noticing. Brooklyn could now make out the figure's huge bat-like wings. They were pitch black, and folded in, with the figure's tiny demon-like tail, also pitch black, waving back and forth continuously, almost like a dog's when it's receiving a treat.

The figure wore a sturdy, ankle length, brown trench-coat, with huge pockets on either sides. Brooklyn noticed the little slit in the coat cut so the tail could come out, and assumed that there were slits for the wings as well. The coat hid the pants the figure was wearing, but Brooklyn could clearly see red and white sneakers.

 _Really? No concern. Can't be blind, would've heard us, can't be deaf, would've seen the light, and can't be both, wouldn't have been able to pick the lock and search the apartment, nor navigate through the sky._ Brooklyn peered to his rookery brothers, with looks just as bewildered as his. _Maybe he thought it was the professor coming home, and didn't consider the professor a threat?_ Brooklyn finally decided to take action.

"Hey, you." he said firmly, trying to establish himself as a threat to the figure. The figure, again, didn't show any signs of movement, "What do you think you're doing, breaking in to someone's apartment. Who are you? What are- " The figure held its hand up, silencing Brooklyn. The hand was unidentifiable, as the fingers were covered with black gloves, but they showed no signs of claws. _Not a gargoyle. I don't know if that's good or bad._ After a couple seconds of awkward, for Brooklyn, at least, silence, the figure finally took a deep breath, communicating that they were about to speak.

"I thought I would encounter you eventually." the voice was female. It carried a tough undertone, and was slightly deadpan in delivery.

"What?" Brooklyn said, still trying to sound threatening. He wasn't sure how to feel about this. This person didn't seem to be glad to see them, nor angry, just dismissive of them, and focused on what she was doing.

"Manhattan is a large city, but it's still a city. And, when only a few people can claim to be able to fly as a mode of transportation, or glide, in your case, they are bound to meet each other eventually."

"Wait, you… you know about us?" Broadway asked. Broadway, like Brooklyn, was also unsure about how to feel about this, mainly because they were both getting no reaction from the person, or, whatever it could be.

"Of course. Whenever I go out I see you."

"Then how come we've never seen you?" Brooklyn regained control of the conversation.

"Well, I don't usually care to be seen. But, I still knew that I would meet you eventually. Like I said, not many people can claim to use wings as a method of getting around." Brooklyn was getting frustrated, mainly because this person didn't really seem to care that they had been caught. They just kept rustling around the papers in the desk.

"Why are you breaking in to people's apartments?" Brooklyn asked, some of the anger coming through.

"Why do you care?" the person responded. The question caught Brooklyn off guard. He didn't know what to say, but he was hoping that the figure would have a different response.

"Because you're breaking the law." Lexington cut in, saving Brooklyn's pride.

"And what makes you so concerned about the law?"

"Uhh…" Lexington stuttered, also caught off.

"You're taking people's things and destroying their homes. Even if we're not concerned about the law, that's still wrong to do." Brooklyn asserted. It was now the person's turn to be silent.

"I suppose you're correct there. But, again, why are you concerning yourselves with it? Shouldn't you leave it to the police officers to enforce what is right and wrong?"

"Concerning ourselves with it is the right thing to do." Brooklyn said. _Yeah right. Elisa asked me to do this._ But now Brooklyn was becoming a little more concerned. This person, despite the minor things they were stealing could still be a problem.

"But why me specifically? You could be stopping muggings on the streets. People beating others up, stealing wallets, purses, precious items. Things that actually matter. Why track me down specifically?"

"Who said we tracked you down?"

"I believe you did."

"That makes no sense."

"Actually, it does. You asked me why I was breaking in to PEOPLE'S apartments, which is plural. From this, we can imply that you seem to think that I have broken in to more than one apartment, which you are correct, but you could have not known that unless you had done research on recent break-ins, or had knowledge of them. So, you have previous knowledge of me and what I've done. You can't claim that you just happened to notice me coming in. You were looking for me. Why else would you have researched me or had knowledge of me at all?" The trio stood there, stunned. Usually criminals were a lot dumber than this, "If you didn't want me to figure it out, you should have chosen your speech more carefully. But, anyway, I'm done concerning myself with this. I have what I need. Enjoy your night."

"Now wait a second, you can't just leave." Brooklyn was now extremely aggrieved, not only because this random person had outsmarted him in, and made him look stupid in front of his two rookery brothers, and thought that they could get away with a break-in, but because they were just going to dismiss the gargoyles after causing them all of this trouble. Brooklyn started to walk towards the person, now standing up, and the trench coat now raised a little bit to reveal a pair of blue jeans. He began to grab her shoulders, anger surging through him.

You can't just l- "he stopped when he felt one of his arms being grabbed by two gloved hands, and before he could think, he was flipped over the figure's shoulder, and on to the desk, just missing the computer. He couldn't see Lexington and Broadway, as his vision was slightly blurred, but he could almost feel their shock and anger from where he had smashed in to the desk. The desk itself, most likely oak wood, was in two pieces now, with little splinters of wood showered everywhere.

"Now you've done it." he heard Broadway say, almost shout, firmly. Brooklyn twisted himself a little, in time to see Broadway and Lexington's eyes turn a bright white as they faced the person, who faced them in return. They began to come at the person again, who grabbed Broadway's shoulder, and quickly smashed him in to Lexington. While the two were dazed, she elbowed Broadway in the right eye, and then followed up with a punch directly in the center of the face, and a knee in the stomach, which sent him tumbling into a confused trance on the floor. She then turned to Lexington, who made a dazed attempt at deflecting a shoulder grapple that shoved him to the floor. Broadway and Brooklyn began to twist a bit and try to lift themselves up again, only to face their attacker in the door frame.

Brooklyn finally got a full view of this mysterious figure they had been hunting. The trench coat was open in the front, with the gap revealing a white tank-top, along with the blue jeans and sneakers. The tank-top almost passed for a normal white t-shirt, but there was a tiny gap between the strap and the sleeve that housed pale skin. The person's hair was a light brown, almost dirty-blonde, and was a little farther than the bottom of the person's collar-bone. Their eyes were hazel, but Brooklyn could only see the right one, as the left was covered by her hair. Her wings had finally stretched out to their full length, revealing them to be a little bit bigger than Brooklyn's. Possibly the size of Goliath's.

Brooklyn was a bit confused by this. The person didn't look like any sort of mythical creature, it looked more like a human with wings attached. Brooklyn would have to ask Hudson if he knew anything about this. If anyone knew, it was Hudson. Brooklyn was still observing this person carefully, when he noticed that her wings cast a huge shadow over Lexington, Broadway, and himself. Even though they were in a heated apartment, they still felt extremely cold in the shadow of this person. But that didn't last long.

"The professor returns at 12:30. You have 20 minutes to escape." and with that remark, the person, the creature, stepped out of the doorframe and into the main room. It was when she began to exit, that Brooklyn noticed the papers clutched in her hand. He could only make out the words "Classroom Roster" before the papers disappeared behind the blue wall of the office.

"Get back here!" Brooklyn shouted, using the rage that he had received from his humiliating and humbling defeat. _I'm not going to let her get away that easily._ Brooklyn began to start to lift himself up on the broken desk. His back had a searing pain in them, and his legs looked distorted, but he shoved it all aside. He began to clutch his bleeding right shoulder, and started to limp in to the main room.

"I'm not gonna let you get away!" Brooklyn shouted again. He finally made his way into the main room, only to find nothing there, not to his surprise. The door was opened a little more than before, leading Brooklyn to believe that the person, the criminal, had escaped. Brooklyn suddenly came to the realization that everything was eerily quiet.

The wind whispered through the door's entry way, and set a massive chill in the room. Brooklyn would not have believed that there was life here in the first place if he hadn't just experienced it. Even the computer's beeping, most likely a hacker alarm, had stopped. Even though his rookery brothers were in the other room, Brooklyn felt very alone. His anger had worn off, and so had his aggressiveness. He was feeling anything now, just experiencing the quietness, the utter lifelessness of the room.

"Brooklyn! Brooklyn!" he heard Broadway shouting from the office. Brooklyn came rushing in, only to find blood streaming down Lexington's head, "Lex is hurt real bad. Not talking, not waking up. We should get him back to the tower. He needs help."

"Right." Brooklyn nodded, "…right." Broadway picked up Lexington in his arms, and stretched his wings out, breathing heavily, and, similarly to Brooklyn, in almost unbearable pain. Brooklyn began to walk back out to the balcony, and stretched his wings out, only to yell in pain. He quickly stifled the yell, in order not to draw any attention. He stretched his wings slightly again, and felt something lodged in his back. He took his hands and felt his wings and back, only to get the warm sensation of blood oozing downward. Brooklyn took a deep breath. _Suck it up, Brooklyn. Lex needs you._ He took a running start and jumped off the balcony, then stretched his wings out, letting the current carry him up. He was breathing heavily, trying to tolerate the pain. _Just try focusing on something else._

Brooklyn turned back to the apartment, only now realizing that they had forgotten to clean up their blood stains on the floor. But Brooklyn didn't really care. The apartment was back to where it was before. Eerily quiet. Though it looked like a crime scene, the blood was in the office. Everything was as it had been before. There was no sign that that whole fight had ever happened. The wind was probably whispering through the door again. Everything was resting in its place. And, even though it was just a small apartment, now that Brooklyn wasn't there, it looked, not empty, but incredibly lonely. Like it was waiting for something to come, someone to come back. Everything was still.

*I do not own any of Gargoyles, but I do own my own characters, This is also my first story, so I am open to and encouraging all criticism. If I get likes and follows, I will update more often.*


	4. Chapter 4

*Two chapters in one day! :-) Thank you so much to everyone who is reading this and giving me support.*

Chapter 4

"And then she was able to figure out that we had been looking for her!" Broadway was fuming with anger as he spoke.

"How?" Elisa was using her detective skills, and drinking in every bit of information she could get. _Who the hell is this person, and what do they think they're doing?_ was the only thought running through her head as she listened to Brooklyn and Broadway's entire rant about this mysterious criminal.

"Well, I asked her why she was breaking in to 'people's' apartments, and she used the word 'people's' to…" Brooklyn then went in to the long process of explaining how the girl had come to the conclusion. Hudson was half-heartedly listening, while helping Goliath tend to Lexington's wounds. He still hadn't woken up from when his head had struck the floor, but the wound was far from fatal. At worst, he would wake up tomorrow after storing energy from turning to stone in the day.

Hudson didn't really want to ask Goliath much about what he was thinking, but he could tell that he was infuriated. Hudson couldn't tell if he was infuriated at Elisa for asking them to investigate these break-ins, or infuriated at this girl for severely injuring 3 of the gargoyles in his clan, or both. Elisa, of course, had already apologized several times, and Hudson could tell that she did truly feel sorry for what she had done.

"And then what happened?" Elisa continued her series of questions.

"Well then, she said that she had what she came for, and was going to leave." Brooklyn started.

"Yeah, so Brooklyn tried to keep her from leaving, but then- " Broadway started.

"THEN THE JERK FLIPPED ME OVER HER SHOULDER!" Brooklyn yelled, breaking the somewhat calm atmosphere that there had been earlier. Brooklyn had been trying to keep his temper at bay, but now he simply couldn't, and all of the anger and frustration he had bottled up had come flowing out.

"How did that happen?" Elisa continued. She felt nervous about questioning Brooklyn on something he was clearly very angry about.

"SHE WAS JUST…" Brooklyn took a deep breath and tried to go back to being calm, "She was just so fast. And, well, we couldn't see her arms, she was wearing a trench coat. And, well, we didn't really know anything, but there was more of us, so we thought that we could take her."

"So you underestimated her?"

"Yeah… I guess we did. But, you can't really blame us. I mean, there were more of us, and…" Brooklyn trailed off.

"I'll never underestimate anyone again." Broadway added, rubbing his bandaged arm.

"Yeah, and then after she flipped me over my shoulder and broke the desk in the apartment, Broadway and Lex tried to get her." Brooklyn attempted to get back on track, and quickly finish talking about his defeat.

"She punched me in the face, and then kneed me in the stomach, and then she grabbed on to Lex's shoulder and pushed him to the ground, which is where he smashed his head." Broadway was also making an effort to stay calm, and was doing a much better job than Brooklyn, but even then, his facial expressions and tone of voice communicated a strong disdain for this person.

"And then she told us that we had 20 minutes until the professor got home, and then left. I tried to chase after her, but I was obviously hurt, and she got away before I could even make it in to the living room."

"So we grabbed Lex and left."

"And you left your blood there?" _Great._ Elisa thought to herself. _Now they'll confuse the cops even more, and I can't do anything about it._

"Yeah, we had to get out. Why? It doesn't matter?" Brooklyn didn't really care if they left the blood there, but he was still curious if it affected the investigation in any way. _Maybe, when they finally that criminal, it'll get her in to more trouble._

"Not really, it'll just confuse the police officers more. You guys aren't registered, so they can't trace the blood back to you. I wonder if gargoyles even have blood-types anyway?"

"What about DNA?"

"Again, you guys aren't registered, and most people doubt your existence in the first place. It's not like they can just come up to the clock tower and ask for a blood sample. Besides, it's way too expensive and takes too long anyway."

"And that's all that happened to us." Broadway, like Brooklyn, was also trying to move it along with Elisa's questioning. While he did like Elisa, he did wish that she would stop on her annoying train of questions. But both Broadway and Brooklyn kept themselves answering by constantly telling themselves that these questions might help Elisa locate the criminal.

"Okay. Now, can you accurately describe what this person looked like? That would make this a lot easier." Elisa flipped to another page of the notebook she was using, pencil poised and ready.

"Couldn't have been more than 16, 17, maybe 18, had light brown hair covering one eye…" Brooklyn went off into a tangent of the appearance of this person, with Elisa writing down every word. Other than that, the clock tower was pretty quiet. Goliath, though tending to Lexington's head, was listening to Elisa's interview. Normally, he would let past mistakes go, but for some reason, this was just too far. Maybe it was because this person was reported to not really care or even seem sorry that they had hurt 3 people, or maybe it was because he just didn't understand anything about this person. But whatever it was, he had no desire to look for this person again, and that was all that mattered to him.

"And she did have the wings and the tail?"

"Yes, they were pitch black, both of them. The wings were much bigger than we thought that they would be."

"And are you 100% sure that this is the same creature from the photo?"

"I'd bet my life on it."

"Hmm… okay. I'll take this to the station," Elisa peered at her watch, "right now! My shift begins in 10 minutes." Elisa began to stand up. Goliath crossed the room over to Elisa, hoping that she had at least a little time to spare.

"Elisa, be careful." Goliath sounded firm, as he always did when Elisa's safety was concerned. Elisa gave a small chuckle.

"I always am, aren't I?" she peered up at Goliath. Even with all the chaos that had happened to him recently, his eyes were still the same. They looked as though they were piercing right through her soul. And, though the average person would be put off by it, it still comforted her. After all, Elisa was no average person.

"Yes, I know you are, but we seem to be dealing with much more than we originally thought. And, if we can help, in any way, please- "

"You've already helped a lot. I couldn't ask for more. And, the criminal, well..."

"This will help you catch the criminal, right?" Broadway poked his head in to the conversation, wanting conformation that all their efforts wouldn't have been for nothing.

"Probably. I'll tell you what I come up with tomorrow, if you'd like. In the meantime, take it easy, okay? And, I'm really sorry about what happened today. I know I've said that 1,000 times now, but seriously, if I can make it up- "

"It's fine, Elisa," Brooklyn reassured, also entering the conversation "You couldn't have known. You can make it up by catching this jerk, alright?"

"Alright. Now that we have accounts and an idea of what this person looks like, it's become a lot easier. See you guys tomorrow."

"Bye Elisa!" range unanimous throughout all the gargoyles, excepting Lexington, as Elisa began to climb down the ladder that led to the police station. Goliath returned to tending to Lexington, and no one spoke until they heard the trapdoor shut.

"I still can't believe- " Brooklyn started to speak.

"Hey, Lex is up!" Broadway cut in, supplying the first bit of positivity that the gargoyles had received all night. Brooklyn turned towards Lexington, who was lying down on the floor, now beginning to push himself up.

"Wh- wha- what happened?" Lexington looked around at the Manhattan Clan, which surrounded where he was laying.

"Well, Lex, uh, she kind of pushed you to the ground, and, you, uh, didn't wake up. Your head was bleeding, but we left and took you back here. You've been out for a couple of hours." Broadway explained. Lexington lifted his hand up to feel the bandages on his head.

"Woah. Wow. Did we catch her?" Brooklyn shook his head at Lexington's hopeful question. Broadway began to help Lexington stand up and lead him into the kitchen.

"Maybe you should eat something, Lex. Your blood sugar's gotta be low. And maybe I should eat something too." Broadway advised, eyeing the leftovers from last night. Brooklyn, on the other hand, made his way over to Hudson, who had just begun to watch Donald Duck cartoons. While he didn't want to disturb him, there was something that he had to ask him.

"Hudson, you know a lot about the Children of Oberon, right?" Hudson turned to face Brooklyn.

"If you're asking me who she was, I must tell you that I know as much as you. I'm guessing that she would be a halfling, as she didn't seem to have any magical powers, but certainly has elements from the Children of Oberon, such as the wings and the tail. And, if she even was a full Child of Oberon, you'll do well to remember that they don't usually associate with other races, especially humans and their affairs." Brooklyn didn't really know what to expect, but it wasn't this.

"Okay, uh, thanks Hudson." Hudson returned to watching cartoons on the television, as Brooklyn went out on the balcony of the clock tower. Tonight the stars in the sky weren't covered by pollution, which made for a nice view. However, a nice view was hardly enough to shake Brooklyn's anger and disappointment. Goliath, being the leader, and responsible for this clan, noticed Brooklyn sulking on the balcony, and decided to take action.

"What's bothering you?"

"When did you come here?"

"Well, you looked lonely out here, and there are actually stars out tonight. I thought I would join you. What's on your mind?"

"Well, I know this is stupid, but this time, I thought that meeting another… whatever she is, in Manhattan would actually go well, but, well- "

"We all want that to happen, but maybe it just isn't supposed to yet. I think that if someone was meant to meet us eventually and join us, it will happen, we just need to be patient."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"The sun will be up soon. Are you sure you're not hungry?"

"I'll eat something tomorrow."

"I see. I'll go inform the others. You should prepare."

"I will." Brooklyn watched Goliath disappear in to the clock tower. Brooklyn climbed on to the top of the wall and transformed in to his most threatening position. He looked on to the city. Tomorrow night another crime would be committed, and another person's life would be shattered. But none of the humans, except Elisa, would know what was happening. It was kind of strange to think about.

The other gargoyles left the lit clock tower and came out in to the dark night. They clambered in to positions, with Broadway helping Lexington, who was still a little disoriented. The sun began to creep up behind the buildings of Manhattan. _What if we hadn't done what we did? Would it have gone differently?_ _Why does nothing ever turn out like we intend it to? When will-_ At that moment, the sun fully covered Manhattan in its warmth and light, and Brooklyn and his thoughts became stone, not to change for another day.

*I do not own any of gargoyles, but I do own my own characters. This is also my first story, so I am open to and encouraging all criticism. If I get likes and follows, I will update more often.*


	5. Chapter 5

Hi! So first of all, I'm so sorry for my absence. I've been gone so long that you could literally have a baby in that time. Just let that sink in. Anyway, I'm back now, and I've got a fresh, new chapter for you. I promise I''m going to try to update more of often. And thanks if you've been here from the beginning. You probably thought that this story was dead. Anyway, on with the story.

Elisa Maza sipped her now cold coffee in the detective's office. Even though her shift had just started, she could already feel her eyelids drooping. But she had no time to be tired now. She had a lot of work to get to. She stared at the stack of high school yearbooks before her. _How many memories of school can one have?_ she thought to herself.

She was originally considering gathering actual, police-certified photos, but the process was just too strenuous. By the time they had received all the photos of local high-school students, the criminal would've probably satisfied all of their needs, and gone on to commit other crimes. _Besides,_ she thought to herself, _these are just so much more fun to look at_.

She stared at her companion next to her. Matt Bluestone was already studying the list of physical traits of the criminal. Elisa, as she had already admitted to Matt, somewhat regretted her choice for telling him, but at other times, she was just so glad to have someone to investigate all these strange happenings with. Of course, Elisa was always worried that Matt was going to bring this all down to some sort of crazy conspiracy theory involving the Illuminati, but that was what Elisa was there for. To set him back on track.

"Alright," Matt began, "We have yearbooks here from every high school in Manhattan, public and private. If none of these match our mystery criminal, we can try getting them from schools out of Manhattan, but I don't know if the NYPD would approve of that."

"Well, Matt, you and I both know that this is a little more important than what the NYPD wants." Elisa pointed out. Matt nodded in agreement. "Where did you get all of these yearbooks anyway?"

"The officers and I spread out and visited every high-school in the city, and got yearbooks for freshman, sophomore, junior and senior years. Even though I doubted we needed all of those years, it definitely would not hurt to investigate them all." Elisa raised a questioning eyebrow. _I'm just going to have to trust you on that_ she thought to herself.

"Well, now that we do have them all, we better get to work." Elisa reluctantly stated. Matt, without even acknowledging what she said, sighed, and turned to his stack of yearbooks.

The day droned on and the duo continued flipping through yearbooks, and every once in a while checking the list of characteristics. They had come across some luck with one of the defining characteristics being hair covering one eye. Surprisingly, not many students had hair covering their eyes, so that made their search a little easier. Whenever they did come across a picture that somewhat matched the description of the person, cut it out of the book and made a copy of it for the other. So far they had come across seven girls that fit the bill; Elizabeth Correr, Grace Lu, Dawn Tepper, Alice Mosko, Victoria Fortworth, Tamara McTorrence, and Lucy Gerba. The duo had gotten so caught up in their work, they hardly noticed when it was time for lunch. The only indication they had was that the cafeteria down the hall became significantly louder.

"Must be some sort of event." Matt commented, as he flipped through a yearbook for Ridgedale Academy. Elisa peered up at the clock, reading 12:30.

"Perhaps lunch." she responded, "You hungry?"

"Yes, but I also have work to get done, and so do you."

"Would you like me to get something? I think it wouldn't distract too much, as long as none of us spill our food all over the yearbook."

"Sure. There's a good sushi place about a block down, if you don't want the garbage their serving in the cafeteria."

"You talking about Takadi's?"

"That's the place."

"Alright, but we're getting their California rolls, no objections."

"I wasn't going to object." Matt chuckled, as Elisa placed down her current yearbook, for the Lucas J. Palm High-school, and grabbed her jacket.

"Now don't let me catch you slacking when I get back, alright?" she said jokingly to Matt. Matt gave a sarcastic laugh as Elisa slipped in to the hallway and walked down the hall to the double doors that marked the entry to the police station. She pushed them open, and held up her hand to cover the sunlight from directly streaming in to her eyes. It was almost unfamiliar to her after straining her eyes on all those yearbooks.

As she strolled out on to the side walk, she decided to sneak a look at the clock tower. Despite working under it, she rarely got to look at the stone gargoyles perched atop the tower, at least from a sidewalk view. The sunlight seemed to be coming from right behind the tower, so Elisa had to squint to get a full view of it. She backed up a little.

 _Putting aside the fact that the tower is home to 1,000-year-old gargoyles, the tower is amazing._ Elisa smiled a bit. Even though Matt knew, the tower and its secrets were still special to her, and still belonged to her. Every time she considered it, she felt extremely thankful that the NYPD had not called on another detective to investigate the falling debris from the top of the Eyrie Building.

Elisa squinted a little more. _Huh. Must be the sunlight playing tricks on me, but I could swear…_ She squinted even harder, focusing all her attention on to the tower. _Yeah, definitely the light, or maybe my eyes are just so strained. I'll have to request a raise._ Elisa stared at the white figure of a walking man on the other side of the street, indicating that she was permitted to cross. _Perhaps if I just look from a little farther away…_ she reassured herself.

She made sure not to continue staring up at the building while crossing the street, for danger of going off the path and being hit by a car. As she nervously paced across the faded white asphalt, she could feel her hands in her pockets beginning to sweat. _Oh, look at you, getting all worked up about nothing. Just, look from a little farther away._

She finally arrived at the other sidewalk, after what seemed like eons. And, once again, she covered her eyes from the sun and squinted at the tower. _No… it can't be. Maybe I'm just getting the wrong angle. Sorry, Matt, you're gonna have to wait for that sushi._ Elisa crossed back to the sidewalk she had started at, and re-entered the police station, hoping to stay out of Matt's view, so he wouldn't slow her down by asking her what was going on.

The elevator ride upwards was like crossing the street to get a different view of the tower, only much longer. Elisa just stared at the numbers indicating which floor they were at changing. The butterflies in her stomach began to flutter rapidly. The room even went a little dizzy, as Elisa felt that she was going to be sick. _Just calm down. You've seen worse_ she tried to tell herself. _Just the wrong angle of the building, you're getting worked up over nothing._ But her gut was telling her otherwise.

She did eventually make it to the top of the building, but not after a train of thought, coming up with the worst possibilities imaginable, had run through her brain. She made her way down the hall, now running, and hastily clambered up the ladder to the trap door. It was a bit weird for her, entering the clock tower in the middle of the day, but she didn't really take time to ponder over that thought.

She shoved the trap door open, and heard it slam against the floor. She pulled herself up and ran through the tower and on to the balcony, her breathing now become heavy. She finally stared out in to the open city, the wind blowing in her face. _Alright, just check behind here, relieve yourself of your worries, and laugh at yourself for wasting time._ She began circling the balcony and found nothing. She circled it again, and again, hoping that she had missed something. But, she knew that it was impossible to miss a huge stone gargoyle.

She took a deep breath, sat beside the building and accepted the truth. Hudson had disappeared off the face of the clock tower.


End file.
